Member Milestones

Other News

Annual Meeting

HFES Hosts a Session with NAE President Dan Mote

By Andrew S. Imada

William S. Marras, Dan Mote, Andrew S. Imada

This year's Past President's Forum at the HFES Annual Meeting featured a conversation with Dan Mote, the President of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). NAE sponsors the 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering for the 21st Century, which Bill Marras introduced in his presidential address two days earlier.

Marras suggested that these Grand Challenges could serve as a platform from which HFES can realize its vision for human factors/ergonomics to be more relevant and impactful through solving societal problems by embracing outward-facing collaborations.

Having the president of the NAE at our Annual Meeting was a great opportunity to introduce many of our HFES members—especially those of us who are not engineers—to the Grand Challenges and the role that we can play in making an impact in solving real problems.

President Mote explained the NAE's place within the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine and its mission to the nation by providing leadership and advice on complex contemporary issues. He explained the origins of the Grand Challenges and the NAE's vision to address these 14 issues that will confront humankind globally. Mote described activities within the NAE and allied programs that support this initiative, such as the NAE Grand Challenge Scholars Program, Global Grand Challenge Summit, and 122 engineering schools' commitment to take on the Grand Challenges.

Mote acknowledged that engineers contribute to solving these issues by analyzing, designing, and building solutions. He also recognized that humans are involved in each of these enormous change efforts, and that there is definitely a role for human factors/ergonomics in every one of the challenges. He explained that these are systems, and to make real change requires not only technical solutions but also complete solutions that are suitable and sustainable.

Mote gave two examples. The first involved engineers who designed a well so that women in a village would not need to walk miles to get water. The engineers later found that the women were still drawing water from the distant site because this allowed them time to socialize and to get out of the house and away from their husbands. Attempting to solve this problem required an understanding of the user beyond walking and carrying water. Mote's second example was a personal one from early in his career, when he redesigned a solution for ski boot bindings. He went to the manufacturer and presented his design. Much to his surprise, the owner was not interested in this good solution because it did not address the business need of his customers: the ski shops. As we in HF/E have learned, effective change comes from understanding the entire system.

In the rest of the session, a valuable exchange of information took place regarding the influence that NAE can have on public policy, creation of meaningful changes in the global challenges, STEM and human factors courses in elementary through high schools, and the incorporation of HF/E into engineering curricula.

It was gratifying to hear that our research and approach to improving the ways in which humans interact with their environments can contribute to these global issues. This is consistent with Bill Marras's assertion that we are well-suited to take on these Grand Challenges because, first, we are experts in identifying human capabilities, limitations, decision making, and bias; second, we are system thinkers and more likely to create sustainable solutions; and finally, our multidisciplinary heritage makes us more facile in traversing artificial boundaries. Mote's call for us as individual researchers, practitioners, journal editors, and technical group members to rally around this practical application to solve real-world problems will help us realize our Society's vision. In the coming months, you will be hearing about the initiatives that HFES President Nancy Cooke has planned for these Grand Challenges.

We are grateful to Dan Mote for taking the time from his busy schedule to learn about our vision and to give us a glimpse of how we can contribute to the global challenges that we face in our new century. We can make a real difference.

Inside HFES

Editor Sought for HF/E Methods Series

HFES is seeking candidates for editor of the Users' Guides to Human Factors and Ergonomics Methods book series. Instituted in 2014 with Francis T. Durso as inaugural editor, the series aims to provide accessible, hands-on books detailing the methodologies involved in the investigation of human involvement in complex systems, including the background, rationale, procedures, and associated outcome analyses, including worked examples.

The incoming editor will be responsible for six new titles, a term lasting approximately three years.

Since the inception of the Guides, the following topics have been put under contract. The first will be published shortly.

Philip Kortum, Usability Assessment: How to Measure the Usability of Products, Services, and Systems

report to the Publications Division and Executive Council semiannually regarding status and future directions

The series editor receives an annual honorarium and a small portion of royalties from sales of the books published under his or her editorship.

To apply for the position, please send a letter of interest and current CV by December 5 to Lois Smith.

Inside HFES

Reviewing for Ergonomics in Design

EID invites prospective occasional reviewers with an interest in contributing to the manuscript peer-review process. Submissions are evaluated on the basis of suitability (that is, related to human factors/ergonomics practice), accuracy, clarity, and other criteria. Reviewers are asked to complete their evaluations in 4 weeks.

Please submit a letter of interest and current CV to Communications Director Lois Smith (lois@hfes.org) if you wish to be considered for occasional reviewing.

The Editorial Board has just approved a Student Reviewer Program, which enables advanced graduate students to participate in the review process. The student, once vetted by the editor, will work under the guidance of the student's faculty adviser. Student reviewers will be provided with resources to help them produce a high-quality review. If the student's review is acceptable, it will be provided to the author of the submission along with other reviews.

Inside HFES

New Technical Group on Children's Issues

At the September Executive Council meeting, the new Children's Issues Technical Group (CITG) was approved on the recommendation of the Council of Technical Groups. CITG consists of individuals interested in research, design, and application of HF/E issues related to children's development from birth to age 18.

The topic of children includes caregivers (e.g., parents and day care providers) and educators (teachers and those who maintain environments for children), which is also a main focus of this group, particularly with respect to children's perceptions and physical and cognitive tasks. Example application areas include injury prevention, product usability, physical and cognitive maturation, workload, and decision making.

Other topics of interest and research of the CITG include communication methods and satisfaction and comfort of children and their caregivers. HF/E experts working in the area of children's issues have been involved in a number of successful programs and products, including providing input to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's mandatory product safety standards, ASTM International voluntary standards, and companies developing and manufacturing either products for children or products that potentially present hazards to children. Some members provide expert witness testimony in product and premises liability lawsuits, which has led to improved systems.

HFES members and nonmembers are invited to join CITG. Membership is $5 per year. Goals of the CITG are to foster research and keep members informed of current issues and developments. In addition to sponsoring technical sessions at the HFES Annual Meeting, the CITG may conduct special symposia on topics of interest to members. A newsletter will be sent to all members at least twice a year.

Inside HFES

New Fellows Profiles Posted

Profiles of recent HFES Fellows have been posted on the Fellows Page. Fellows who have not submitted profiles are invited to do so. Download the profile template here and submit the completed form to Susan Marschner (susan@hfes.org).

Inside HFES

Renew Your Membership

Thank you for being a part of this great organization in 2016. We are grateful for your membership and for the support of hundreds of volunteers serving in elected leadership positions, committees, task forces, technical groups, chapters, meeting program committees, and editorial review boards. You make it possible for the Society to provide cutting-edge information, research, and resources to help you excel professionally.

Maintaining your involvement with HFES will allow the Society to continue to provide you with the tools and networking opportunities you need to stay relevant in the dynamic field of HF/E. Your membership helps us increase the field's global impact and expand the range of HFES publications, events, and services.

Many thanks to members who have already renewed for 2017. The 2017 membership renewal statements are scheduled to be mailed next week, or renew online today!

Public Policy Matters

In September, HFES submitted comments to the National Science Foundation (NSF) on the NSF 2018–2022 Strategic Plan. The Society expressed its gratitude for the work being done by NSF to support basic research and education and offered recommendations as to how the Foundation may encourage technological discovery through the utilization of human factors/ ergonomics (HF/E) research and personnel. Specifically, the comments noted the integral part that HF/E plays in the implementation of new technologies by seeking to understand how humans interact with them, namely, human-systems integration.

As artificial intelligence, robotics, and autonomous transportation technologies become more advanced, interdisciplinary and convergent research initiatives will become increasingly important to advancing the NSF mission. HFES encouraged the Foundation to engage established scientific agencies with expertise in these areas as it moves forward with developing research priorities.

The input of HFES was in response to a preliminary comment period for the NSF 2018–2022 in which feedback was sought on the NSF vision and goals. HFES will continue to participate in the strategic planning process and to position HF/E as a vital component of the Foundation's research multidisciplinary portfolio.

Lewis-Burke Associates LLC, a leading Washington, D.C.-based government relations and consulting firm, represents the public policy interests of scientific societies and institutions of higher education. Lewis-Burke's staff of about 20 government relations professionals work to promote the federal research and policy goals of HFES and the HF/E community.

Member Milestones

Richard T. Stone Receives Two Awards

HFES member Richard T. Stone was honored with the 2015 Plummer Memorial Education Lecture Award, which is presented annually by the American Welding Society. Each year, the award recognizes outstanding contributions to welding education and training.

Stone also was recognized with the Don Grant Faculty Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. This award is voted on by graduating seniors and presented to a faculty member who has a high impact on undergraduate education within the department. HFES congratulates Richard on these accomplishments.

Inside HFES

It's National Ergonomics Month!

This October represents the 13th anniversary of National Ergonomics Month (NEM). Since its inception, NEM has inspired a variety of action plans implemented by members of HFES student chapters to make a difference in the lives of people in local communities and around the world. Nonstudents have also participated in NEM through a variety of creative outreach efforts.

We will focus our efforts in the coming year on quality of life for humans globally. This theme was described by HFES President William S. Marras in his presidential address at the Annual Meeting. Tapping into the 14 Grand Challenges advanced by the National Academy of Engineering, Marras spoke about the need for — and human-systems integration perspective of — HF/E professionals to contribute to initiatives of sustainability, vulnerability, wellness, health care, and living a joyful and meaningful life. The HF/E community has a proud history of thinking about, talking about, raising issue with, and trying to tackle large-scale problems as they develop. For example, consider the Annual Meeting panel discussions on cybersecurity and driverless cars.

The NEM Committee plans to incorporate the call to action proposed by Marras through a focus on the topic of sustainability and the use of social media for outreach efforts. We will begin a new initiative in Fall 2017 focused on "ergonomic-mindedness." This activity will emphasize the importance of social media so HF/E professionals around the world can showcase NEM outreach activities in their communities.

Why Sustainability?
We believe that it's time for HF/E scientists, engineers, and practitioners to focus on sustainability because we can offer solutions to environmental problems by addressing the design dimensions that shape the interaction between humans and their environments (http://pro.sagepub.com/content/54/11/793.short).

What You Can Do
The NEM Committee invites members and nonmembers to craft NEM efforts in ways that overlap with the larger theme of sustainability. Here are just a few examples of possible action plans:

Propose something related to transportation. How about a bike-to-work/school event? Along the way you could talk about all of the relevant HF/E work that went into the signage along your commute. Is biking hard in your area? Perhaps you could brainstorm about ways in which HF/E could make commuting by bike better for everyone. Then propose those ideas to your local leaders.

Do an ergonomics analysis of a workplace. Include in your report information concerning the benefit of greenery for improving working conditions and air quality.

NEM 2017 Action Plans are due in August 2017. Bookmark the NEM Web page for more details.

Following our launch of efforts around sustainability in 2017, in subsequent years we will highlight the other overarching Grand Challenges themes outlined by Bill Marras noted earlier (e.g., vulnerability, health care).

NEM Change in Leadership
After five years as NEM Chair, Joe Keebler is stepping down to open NEM up to new leadership and fresh ideas. Beth Phillips will serve as chair, and Keebler will continue as committee member to support NEM's growth and future efforts. Phillips is a researcher with the Humanity Centered Robotics Initiative and Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences at Brown University. Her research focuses on how robots and other technologies are changing the way people interact with the world and one another, including the role that robots will play in providing companionship for humans in the near future. She also has an interest in human factors applications to sustainable design and is looking forward to serving as NEM chair as new initiatives begin to focus on this area.

Happy National Ergonomics Month, everyone!

Inside HFES

Call for Topic Proposals for Special Issues of Human Factors

Human Factors is pleased to welcome topic proposals for upcoming special issue(s) on Grand Challenges identified by the National Academy of Engineering. These challenges were outlined in Bill Marras's presidential address at HFES 2016 and fall into the broad categories of Sustainability, Personal and Community Health, Vulnerability, and Wellness (joy of living):

Sustainability: Research that addresses the problem of consuming finite resources at an unsustainable rate. Human factors contributions potentially include helping the public understand risk, human decision making, and biases; and collaborating with engineers to build usable systems for control of resources.

Health: Research that addresses challenging problems that remain in health care. Human factors contributions potentially include the role of decision making in clinical settings, understanding interactions between cognitive and physical properties, and interpreting big data in health care.

Vulnerability: Research that addresses novel ways to protect and prevent against diseases, natural disasters, environmental change, aging infrastructures, terrorist threats and cybercrime. Human factors contributions potentially include understanding the capabilities and limitations of human performance, biases in decision making, factors associated with risk taking, and the design of human-compatible solutions.

Wellness: Research that addresses the challenges of growth in an increasingly complex world, political interference in scientific progress, virtual reality programs for effective training as well as enjoyment, and access to medical care. Human factors contributions potentially include universal design for engineering solutions, contributing to public understanding by communicating the value of HF/E, and a push toward systems-level thinking.

The selected topic will serve as the focal point of a future issue of the journal. Proposed topics should be timely and relevant to work currently applicable to the HF/E community, hold significant potential impact for the field, and be of sufficient breadth and interest to satisfy the journal readership.

A complete proposal should be 1–2 pages and include background, scope of the topic, rationale/importance, references to pertinent recently published work, and suggested contributors to the special issue. Details for formatting the proposal maybe found in the Hot Topic Special Issue/Section Procedures.

Additionally, a guest editor will be selected for the special issue. Prospective guest editors should include, along with their topic proposal, a CV, a paragraph describing relevant review/editorial and research experience, and a proposed procedure for solicitation and review of submissions.

Recognitions

HFES Honors 12 New Fellows

On September 20 during the opening plenary session of the 2016 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, HFES honored the following members for outstanding achievement, consistently superior professional performance, exceptional contributions, personal service to the Society, and other meritorious accomplishments.

Thomas J. Albin, High Plains Engineering, Minneapolis, Minnesota – Albin has an extensive background in the application and practice of ergonomics as an ergonomics practitioner, product developer, and applied researcher, and in the promotion of applying ergonomics and human factors in the workplace. He has played a leading role in the development of technical standards related to ergonomics and human factors and cochairs the ANSI/HFES 100 Revision Committee.

James P. Bliss

James P. Bliss, Professor of Psychology, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia – Bliss has achieved an outstanding record of research, teaching, and service to the profession, always with an eye toward the pedagogical needs and interests of the next generation of HF professionals. His research has helped define the unique antecedents and behavioral outcomes related to varieties of signal trust. Under his leadership, in 2002 the Old Dominion University Student Chapter developed and implemented the first Student Career and Professional Development Day.

Jack T. Dennerlein

Jack T. Dennerlein, Professor, Department of Physical Therapy, Movement, and Rehabilitation Science, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts and adjunct professor of ergonomics and safety, Harvard School of Public Health – Dennerlein's professional contribution is primarily in occupational ergonomics applied within a public health framework to prevent worker injuries and musculoskeletal disorders. He has served on the Human Factors editorial board, regularly reviews submissions to the HFES Annual Meeting, and was guest editor of the Ergonomics in Design special issue "Combatting the Sedentary Workplace."

Karen Jacobs

Karen Jacobs, Clinical Professor of Occupational Therapy, Boston University – The highly successful backpack awareness initiative conducted annually in the United States and Iceland is one example of Jacobs' accomplishments in the area of ergonomics for children and youth. She continues her national involvement in backpack ergonomics as the national spokesperson for the American Occupational Therapy Association's National Backpack Awareness Day. In 1990, Dr. Jacobs founded and continues to be the editor of WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation. Currently chair of the HFES Outreach Division, Jacobs has also served as chair and program chair for the Environmental Design
Technical Group.

Nancy L. J. Larson

Nancy L. J. Larson, Principal, Nancy L. J. Larson Consulting, Minneapolis, Minnesota – Larson has made significant and extraordinary contributions as a manager of a global ergonomics program as well as a consultant, whereby she has effectively applied HF/E principles to design office work environments and work processes for safety and productivity. She received the HFES Alexander C. Williams, Jr. Design Award in 2015 for the design, implementation, and evaluation of an ergonomic program and job analysis system. Larson has served on the Executive Council and as chair and program chair for Macroergonomics and Environmental Design Technical
Groups.

Christopher B. Mayhorn

Christopher B. Mayhorn, Professor of Psychology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina – made significant contributions through graduate and undergraduate teaching, mentoring students, and conducting research. In additional to numerous publications, he maintains an active laboratory, mentoring more than 100 students. He served as coordinator the Human Factors and Applied Cognition graduate program. Mayhorn has served as chair of the HFES Technical Program Committee and is a former chair of the Carolina Chapter.

William H. Muto

William H. Muto, Principal, WHM Consulting, Richardson, Texas – Muto has made contributions in both the application and practice of human factors that have had a major impact on the products and product development processes at three major corporations. Most recently, at Abbott Laboratories, Muto initiated and established human factors as a core discipline in the development and evaluation of medical diagnostic equipment. He has served on the editorial board of Ergonomics in Design and is a past president of the North Texas Chapter.

Jay G. Pollack

Jay G. Pollack, Principal, Jay Pollack Consulting, Hillsboro, Ohio – Over his 30+-year career, Pollack has demonstrated the effectiveness of duplicating applied human factors research from the laboratory into real-world environments in the defense, public, and industrial sectors. Jay met an underserved need by developing a course in applied human performance and equipment design in extreme environments at the University of Dayton. He has held offices in numerous Technical Groups and serves on the Ergonomics in Design editorial board.

Amy R. Pritchett

Amy R. Pritchett, Assistant Professor, School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia – Pritchett's research in aviation automation and safety is well-known and highly respected by the aerospace community. She served two years as director of the Aviation Safety Program at NASA headquarters. A dedicated teacher and mentor, she has served on dissertation and thesis committees for 50 PhD and MS students. Pritchett is serving in her second term as editor in chief of the Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making.

Harvey S. Smallman

Harvey S. Smallman, Senior Scientist, Pacific Science and Engineering, San Diego, California – Smallman's research has had a tremendous impact on the research, design, and development of visual information displays across a wide range of military and industrial applications. His research has led to several significant discoveries in visual display perception and performance, advancing the literature and the application of design concepts and fielded systems. He has twice received the HFES Jerome H. Ely Award for best paper published in Human Factors. Smallman served as chair and cochair of the Perception and Performance Technical Group.

Tonya L. Smith-Jackson

Tonya L. Smith-Jackson, Professor and Chair, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, North Carolina – Smith-Jackson has chaired and cochaired 20 doctoral dissertations and 30 MS theses and has supervised undergraduate and high school projects. She has received three awards for her efforts toward advancing women. Much of her funded research enterprise has focused on marginalized groups, with an emphasis on ethnicity, disabilities, and age. In addition to holding various Technical Group offices and chairing a task force on diversity, Smith-Jackson has been an associate editor of Ergonomics in Design.

Kim-Phuong L. Vu

Kim-Phuong L. Vu, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, California State University, Long Beach – Vu has developed outstanding research programs in basic and applied areas of human performance. She has related theoretical advances from her research on action selection to applied issues in human factors. She has mentored more than 120 graduate and undergraduate students in research, publishing journal articles or proceedings papers with more than 60 student coauthors. Vu is an associate editor for Human Factors and has served as chair of the HFES Student Affairs Committee.

Recognitions

HFES Awardees Recognized for Excellence

Each year, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society honors individuals or teams for superior accomplishments in a range of areas. The following 2016 recipients were announced on September 20 in Washington, DC.

Donald A. Norman

HFES President William S. Marras presented the 2016 Arnold M. Small President's Distinguished Service Award to Donald A. Norman, Design Lab, University of California, San Diego. Norman is a champion of human-centered design and has made the principles and values of the HF/E field accessible to the general public, for example, through his well-known book The Psychology of Everyday Things.

Gunnar Johannsen

Gunnar Johannsen, University of Kassel, Germany, received the Hal W. Hendrick Distinguished International Colleague Award for outstanding contributions to the human factors/ergonomics field. A leading figure in human-machine systems in Europe, Johannsen has made pioneering contributions to the mathematical modeling of human behavior and performance in manual control tasks and supervisory control.

The 2016 Paul M. Fitts Education Award was presented to Francis T. Durso, Georgia Institute of Technology, (not pictured) to recognize his exceptional contributions to the education and training of HF/E specialists. Durso has influenced students through all aspects of his academic career, including directly training students and serving as mentor to many other students and young faculty members.

Richard P. Compton

Richard P. Compton, Office of Behavioral Safety Research, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, received the A. R. Lauer Safety Award in recognition of his critical work to improve safety on the nation's roads for all users. Compton's efforts to improve safety have been recognized nationally and internationally by such organizations as the World Health Organization and the National Safety Council. This award recognizes outstanding contributions to human factors aspects in roadway safety, leading to reduced accidents and injuries.

Linda C. Williams

The Oliver Keith Hansen Outreach Award was presented to Linda C. Williams, National Center for Patient Safety, Veterans Health Administration. Williams has collaboratively initiated the development of the Advanced Patient Safety Fellowship, a national interdisciplinary patient safety program within the VA that fosters an environment in which human factors engineers, health-care clinicians, and other professionals collaborate to share expertise and design safer systems. As a leader in this and other national training initiatives for more than a decade, Linda has exposed thousands of clinicians to human factors techniques that support the safer design of health-care systems. Within the VA, she has created an environment that fosters the development of long-term relationships between HF/E practitioners and clinicians. Her efforts have resulted in both individual and organizational transformation in metacognition and the approach to design.

Susan E. Kotowski

Susan E. Kotowski, University of Cincinnati, received the William C. Howell Young Investigator Award for demonstrating outstanding contributions to the field through professional scientific contributions. In a very short time, Kotowski has accrued an impressive publication record, as principal or coauthor of 37 peer-reviewed journal articles. She has been principal or co-investigator on 11 research grants or contracts generating approximately $2.4 million in external funding. She is also the recipient of the College of Allied Health Science Excellence in Research award and has developed and delivered
12 professional development courses.

Richard J. Holden

Richard J. Holden, Indiana University, is this year's recipient of the Bentzi Karsh Early-Career Service Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field through professional service and outreach activities as a student and early-career professional. Holden has tirelessly advocated for and represented HF/E in his professional and community roles and has made major HF/E outreach contributions through leadership and consultancy positions in ambitious national projects to transform health care, including a $200 million initiative to improve U.S. health care through the Peterson
Center on Healthcare.

Timothy J. Neville

The Alphonse Chapanis Student Paper Award, recognizing excellence in Annual Meeting papers, was presented to Timothy J. Neville, Paul M. Salmon, and Gemma J. M. Read, Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia, for "Towards a Model for Measuring Teamwork in Australian Rules Football Officials." Neville was selected from among 49 submissions for the 2016 award.

The Jerome H. Ely Human Factors Article Award for the best paper published in the previous year's volume went to David L. Strayer, Jonna Turrill, Joel M. Cooper, James R. Coleman, Nathan Medeiros-Ward, and Francesco Biondi for "Assessing Cognitive Distraction in the Automobile." The paper proposes and validates a scale for measuring cognitive distraction. Although the scale is intended to measure driver distraction, it also provides a model for how researchers can develop measures of cognitive distraction in other domains, such as rail, aviation, and health care.

Susan E. Kotowski and Kermit G. Davis

Kermit G. Davis and Susan E. Kotowski received the Best Ergonomics in Design Article Award, for "Stand Up and Move: Your Musculoskeletal Health Depends on It." The article is a literature review covering the value of various alternatives to conventional office seating for preventing musculoskeletal disorders. It provides succinct summaries of the research that has been done with the various alternatives along with concrete "take-home" messages.

Sathya S. Silva

The 2016 Best Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making Article Award was presented to Sathya S. Silva and R. John Hansman for "Divergence Between Flight-Crew Mental Model and Aircraft System State in Auto-Throttle Mode Confusion Accident and Incident Cases." The article demonstrates an innovative means for capturing mismatches between a person's understanding of an immediate situation and reality. The value of this method is applied to aviation safety but is also relevant to a wide range of domains in which
erroneous beliefs can have serious consequences.

Andrew Hampton and Valerie L. Shalin

The 2016 Human Factors Prize Recognizing Excellence in Human Factors/Ergonomics Research went to Andrew Hampton and Valerie L. Shalin for "Lexical Choice as a Measure of Urgency in Social Media." This year's topic was big data/analytics.

Recognitions

2016 NEM Best Action Plan Winners

Congratulations to the following winners of the NEM Best Action Plan and thanks to everyone who submitted an entry.

First place was awarded to Georgia Tech for "Human Factors and Ergonomics for Future Generations." The 8th Annual Bad Design Atlanta Competition encourages Georgia Tech students to find instances of bad design in the Atlanta area (e.g., confusing signs, counterintuitive doors) and to suggest creative solutions based on HF/E design principles. The contest is advertised using multiple list servers, classroom announcements, and flyers distributed throughout campus. Written and audio/visual submissions are allowed and are judged by HFES student chapter members and/or members of the Atlanta HF/E community. Cash prizes are awarded for 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-place submissions. The three winners are invited to give brief presentations of their design problems and solutions at an award luncheon hosted by the chapter. The winners are also featured on the student chapter's Web site.

Additionally, Space Race: Aliens v. Humans is planned as an exhibit to be presented at two functions in the 2016–2017 school year: Fernbank Museum "Science at Hand" Day and Atlanta Science Festival Expo. These events both aim to get children who otherwise likely would not be exposed to HF/E interested in our science through hands-on experiences.

Second place went to Wichita State University for "Continuing Human Factors and Ergonomics Education in the Wichita Community," which proposed outreach events to target a wide variety of populations and educate the public about human factors/ergonomics. By displaying and explaining HF/E research using multiple platforms (talks, demos, posters), the group is able to engage community members of all ages. By giving talks and relating information to help older adults, the group hopes to demonstrate the positive impact that HF/E can make in daily living.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University earned third place for "ERGO: Engaging Retail to Grasp Opportunity," a four-phase plan that involves analyzing warehouse personnel and organization of a warehouse. Focus will be on developing and training employees about ways to protect their lower back from pulling, lifting, pushing, holding, carrying, and/or throwing objects when working in these environments.

Recognitions

Student Member and Chapter Awards

HFES is pleased to recognize the following recipients of the Student Member With Honors Award, presented annually to acknowledge students who have made an outstanding contribution to the HF/E discipline and/or to the Society.

Mahboobeh Ghesmaty Sangachin, University at Buffalo, SUNY

David Azari, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Andrew Abbate, Drexel University

The following student chapters have received Student Chapter Awards in recognition of their contributions and achievements, which have been judged on the number and quality of activities engaged in across several categories with the emphasis on demonstrated excellence in a number of areas.

Gold Level – requires activity in at least eight categories with excellence in at least five categories, and at least 50% of the student members also being HFES Student Affiliate members:

California State University, Long Beach

Clemson University

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

George Mason University

Georgia Institute of Technology

Old Dominion University

San Jose State University

Texas Tech University

University of Central Florida

University of Houston-Clear Lake

University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Virginia Tech

Wichita State University

Silver Level – requires activity in at least five categories with excellence in at least three categories, and at least 40% of the student members also being HFES Student Affiliate members:

Ohio State University

Texas A & M Universityy

University at Buffalo, SUNY

University of South Dakota

University of Southern California

Bronze Level – requires activity in at least three categories with excellence in at least two categories, and at least 25% of the student members also being HFES Student Affiliate members:

University of Waterloo

Recognitions

2016 Technical Group Awards

The following Technical Group Awards were presented at the Annual Meeting. HFES congratulates all of the recipients.

Recognitions

COTG Announces Recipients of Student Awards

The Council of Technical Groups (COTG) is pleased to announce the recipients of the Student Author Presentation Support Award (SAPSA) and the First-Year Student Travel Honorarium Award for the 2016 Annual Meeting.

SAPSA is intended to facilitate student author participation in the Annual Meeting, including presenting in technical group sessions, networking with professionals, and attending TG business meetings. The program focuses on students in financial need who have a paper accepted for poster or lecture presentation at the meeting. This year's recipients and the technical groups in whose programs they made presentations are as follows:

The First-Year Student Travel Honorarium Awards, which are intended to help support students entering HF/E academic programs to travel to the Annual Meeting, have also been awarded. This year, 10 awards of $500 were provided to each of the following students, and Annual Meeting registration fees were waived:

Brandon Fluegel, Old Dominion University

Theresa Nguyen, Texas Tech University

Shannon Devlin, Clemson University

Dechristian Barbieri, Virginia Tech

Anar Salayev, California State University, Long Beach

David Grimm, Iowa State University

Katy Odette, University of Central Florida

Nicole Karpinsky, Old Dominion University

Hagai Tapiro, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Anna Hickling, University of Queensland

Many thanks to COTG Chair Lawrence Hettinger, who administered the awards and to the Council of Technical Groups, which funded them. Further details about the programs may be found in the July issue of the HFES Bulletin.

Recognitions

YouTube Video Contest Winners Announced

A judging panel from HFES has determined the winners of this year's video contest, which posed the challenge to create a 2-minute video to answer the question, "How does human factors/ergonomics help people?" The contest is part of the Society's vision of extending the reach and relevance of HFES and the HF/E discipline.

One criterion for judging the entries was how well the video producers captured an aspect of the HF/E field's breadth in a concise yet creative and engaging manner. Other judging criteria included accurate depiction of human-systems integration, creativity, uniqueness, innovation, and how powerfully the producers addressed the theme.

First Place: Michelle Hester, "How Does Human Factors Help People?"
Michelle Hester's simple graphical depiction opens with a universal example of lack of usability (which way to open a door), briefly defines human factors, and uses rhyming to explain other areas in which human factors makes interfaces better.

Michelle Hester

Hester is a recent graduate of the University of Idaho's Human Factors Psychology Master's Program and previously received her BS in psychology from the University of Central Florida. During her time in the Pacific Northwest, she interned with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories as an environmental health and safety engineer, focusing on ergonomics. Her research interests include automation and human-robot interaction.

Bonner is a first-year PhD student at Iowa State University (ISU) studying human-computer interaction and industrial engineering. He earned a BFA in graphic design from Auburn University and an MS in human-computer interaction from ISU. His research interests include serious games, STEM education, and design for social change. Desmond works as a part of a research team studying intelligent tutoring systems.

Third Place: Daniel Diethei, Lisa Herbst, and Paul Schlosser, "How Human Factors Improves Your Life"
The video by Diethei and colleagues poses two scenarios of daily life, from waking to applying for a job, with and without the technologies that have been influenced by HF/E science and practice.

Daniel Diethei

Daniel Diethei studies human-computer interaction at the University of Würzburg, Germany. His research focus is on human factors projects in health care and aviation. In 2015 he spent two months at the University of Toronto, Canada, working on usability tests for infusion pumps in the intensive-care unit. In the same year he wrote his bachelor's thesis on radar displays for air traffic controllers at the German Aerospace Center. He works for Siemens Healthcare, improving user interfaces for X-ray systems.

Lisa Herbst

Lisa Herbst studies media communication at the Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg and works for the chair of instructional psychology and new media. Her focus is on e-learning and learning with hypertext learning environments. She is working on her bachelor's thesis on the influence of the position of macropropositions in those environments. Thanks to workshops from the Hans-Seidel-Stiftung and the Design Akademie Berlin, she gained experience in creating videos.

Paul Schlosser

Paul Schlosser is working toward a master's degree in human-computer interaction at the University of Würzburg, Germany. He is fascinated by this program because it combines applied psychology and engineering. He has developed a strong interest in human factors in safety-critical systems. In 2015 worked at the School of Psychology in Brisbane, Australia, where he researched the use of head-mounted displays in a clinical environment.

HFES President William S. Marras noted, "We are happy to have had such a good response to the contest. I am pleased that the video producers have been able to describe how HF/E helps people is such creative and ingenious ways."

The Society's Outreach Division Chair, Karen Jacobs, added, "YouTube is a powerful and effective medium. We are excited about using these videos to promote the human factors/ergonomics profession to a wide audience."

HFES Meetings

2016 Annual Meeting Proceedings Now Available Online

The 2016 Annual Meeting Proceedings papers are now available online. Log in to your HFES account and select "HFES Proceedings" in the "Access your online publications" section.

HFES Meetings

Support the Health-Care Symposium With a Sponsorship or Ad

HFES offers affordable ways for companies and institutions with relevant products and services to promote them to attendees at the 2017 International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care.

Sponsors advertisers will be acknowledged on signage at the symposium, on the Web site, and in the final program. Sponsors are acknowledged during the Opening Plenary and the sponsored functions.

Sponsorships and ads are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis with receipt of a completed order form, which can be accessed on the sponsorships page.

Sponsorship Types and Rates
The items below with an asterisk (*) include one free registration-bag insert, a $900 value.

Sponsorship Type

Rate

Opening Networking Reception – March 5*

$5,000

Opening Plenary/Keynote Session – March 6*

$3,000

Topical Program Track (four available)

$2,000

Poster/Networking Reception – March 6 or 7*

$4,500

Lunch – March 6 or 7*

$6,000

Coffee break – March 6–8 (eight available)

$2,500

Sustaining Sponsorship (unlimited number available)

$1,500

Lanyards*

$3,000

If you'd like to offer a sponsorship not shown in this list, please contact Lois Smith.

NEW! Discounted Sponsorship Packages
Save 15% on these combined promotions, or tell us what combination of sponsorships/ads you're interested in and we'll send you a quote.

During this year's Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, HFES coordinated a panel discussion, "Human Factors and the Federal Government: Improving Human Performance in Forensic Sciences." The discussion, moderated by Toby Warden, interim director of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Board of Human Systems Integration, addressed the impact of human factors research and applications on forensic sciences and highlighted ongoing federal government projects and policies to shape and improve the discipline.

Panelists included Fay Lomax Cook, assistant director of the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate at the National Science Foundation; Melissa Taylor, program officer in the Law Enforcement Standards Office at the National Institute of Standards and Technology; Johnathan McGrath, senior policy analyst within the National Institute of Justice Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences at the U.S. Department of Justice; and Deborah A. Boehm-Davis, HFES Past President and dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at George Mason University. The federal agency representatives discussed the functions of their respective agencies, their current forensic programs, and the role of human factors in moving the science forward.

Boehm-Davis discussed her experience as a human factors researcher actively engaged in applying HF/E to federal policies and programs, specifically the NIST Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science. The panelists also talked about the importance of establishing universal operations standards and engagement with universities and early-career researchers, the next generation of scientists who will expand upon current developments in the field. The well-attended session was a great opportunity to inform members and attendees about how to engage with the federal government to apply human factors science and research to decision making, policies, and programs.

Lewis-Burke Associates LLC, a leading Washington, D.C.-based government relations and consulting firm, represents the public policy interests of scientific societies and institutions of higher education. Lewis-Burke's staff of about 20 government relations professionals work to promote the federal research and policy goals of HFES and the HF/E community.

Member Milestones

Eduardo Salas Receives APA Award

On August 6, HFES Fellow and Past President Eduardo Salas became the first industrial-organizational psychologist to receive the American Psychological Association's highest honor, the Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology. Salas, the Allyn R. and Gladys M. Cline Chair and Professor of Psychology at Rice University, accepted the award at the APA annual conference in Denver. He joins an illustrious group of 26 psychologists, including B.F. Skinner and Albert Bandura, whose life work has touched all areas of society.

"I chose Dr. Salas for his contributions resulting from three decades of studying the elements of effective team functioning," APA President Susan McDaniel said. "This comes at a time when collaboration and teamwork are the foundation of the corporate world, health care, aeronautics, science, and the arts."

During his acceptance speech, Salas thanked his father for setting him on his path, and his wife and family for their support. He also thanked the professional community. "I'm grateful to my colleagues and students," he said, "because they challenge me and make me better."

Member Milestones

In Memoriam: Marilyn Sue Bogner

By Gerald P. Krueger

Marilyn Sue Bogner

HFES Fellow Marilyn Sue Bogner passed away at her home in Bethesda, Maryland, on August 19 at the age of 79.

Bogner served a number of years as the HFES Health Care Technical Group chair, and she also served on the HFES Fellows Committee. She organized a session on medical error for the HFES Potomac Chapter in 2006 and made several presentations on the Nature of Error and Implications for Health Care in 2012 at the Washington Academy of Sciences (WAS) biennial Capital Science weekend event held at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia. Sue helped to highlight such human factors work in a cross-disciplinary way by arranging for publication of four articles from those sessions in the WAS Journal (Vol. 92, 2006). She was a Fellow of WAS and was also a particularly active participant in the American Psychological Association's Division 21, Engineering and Applied Psychologists.

Bogner received a BA in psychology and mathematics from the University of Kansas in 1959. She earned her MA in psychology in 1968 and her PhD in social psychology from the same university 1975.

After moving to Bethesda, Maryland, in 1971, Sue began teaching psychology at Catholic University in Washington, DC. Her courses were particularly popular with nurses, who sought insight for concerns such as convincing physicians trained to cure people that their dying patients needed them. Working for a time at the National Academies' Institute of Medicine, Bogner continued applying psychology to health care as she targeted issues such as changing physician behavior to achieve better compliance with quality assurance standards. In a short stint at the Department of Health and Human Services, she monitored research on a range of issues, including Haitian immigration and health and social services for elderly Chinese in San Francisco. Sue worked for a time at the Army Research Institute for Behavioral and Social Sciences in Alexandria, Virginia, where she did traditional human factors work analyzing error-likely situations for the redesign of an Army self-propelled howitzer.

At the Food and Drug Administration, Bogner returned to her interest in health care. She analyzed reports that too often attributed death or serious injury involving medical devices to user error. Sue launched a campaign to point out such human-engineering design problems to a broad professional community. In February 1992, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago, she organized a full-day session highlighting problems of medical technology designs that were not so safe for human operation. Sue also arranged for a local TV station to broadcast on the topic from the meeting venue. This symposium helped serve as one of the first public statements of the problems of human error in medicine.

Bogner continued organizing sessions and speaking on variations of that topic at national and international meetings of a variety of professional groups. Her first edited book, Human Error in Medicine (Erlbaum, 1994) alerted the medical profession to pervasive significant problems with poorly designed medical devices and equipment. With the publication of her second edited book, Misadventures in Health Care: Inside Stories (Erlbaum, 2004), Bogner solidified her leadership role in the arena of prevention of medical error by pointing out the relevance of psychological and human factors design principles to numerous aspects of medical error likelihood in our health-care systems. Bogner established her consulting firm, Institute for the Study of Human Error. She continued to promote the notion that medical error is often the result of contributing factors in the context of care. She set about identifying those factors, advising on modifications to equipment design, and on improvements in medical procedures to reduce the likelihood of error. Sue was a pace-setter on such issues. Venues for her work included hospitals, nursing homes, home health situations, medical device manufacturers, professional organizations, medical schools, and the courtroom.

At the 2016 HFES Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, the Health Care Technical Group announced plans to name an award for the best student paper or presentation in honor of Bogner. The first such presentation will be made at the 2017 HFES International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care.

Sue had a passionate interest in the arts, world travel, and learning about other cultures, nature, antiques, entertaining, and her dogs and cats. She had been working on her third book on prevention of medical error when she suffered debilitating strokes in 2014. Her numerous friends and colleagues will hold a "Celebrate the Life of Sue Bogner" tribute to her on October 22 at the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC. She is survived by her son, Edward J. Chapman, III (Ann); daughter, Rebecca H. Sauter (John); and grandsons, Edward J. Chapman, IV, and Jacob J. Chapman. Contributions may be made to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 424 E 92nd St, New York, NY 10128-6804; or the African Wildlife Foundation, 1400 16th St NW, Suite 120, Washington, DC 20036 (africanwildlife@awf.org).

Other News

Driving Symposium Call for Papers

Submissions are invited for the 9th International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training, and Vehicle Design, which will be held June 26–29, 2017, at the Equinox in Manchester Village, Vermont.

Papers from researchers and practitioners working on applications of human factors in driver assessment, training, and vehicle design from the perspectives of engineering, medicine, psychology, and public health are due Friday, November 4, 2016. Instructions and further information can be found here.